Heretofore, the production of alkyl aryl ethers involved reacting a phenol with either a dialkyl sulfate or an alkyl halide (Wagner and Zook, Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Chapter 6, pp. 226-229, Wiley, 1953). This same type general reaction scheme has also been employed to produce .beta.-methoxy naphthalene in a 73% yield, by reacting dimethyl sulfate with .beta.-naphthol (Krum and Waldo, JACS 1921, 43, 2223).
Further, the reaction of alcohols with a phenol has been disclosed by Stork in JACS 1947, 69, 576-9, this reaction involving mixing methanol, .beta.-naphthol and extremely large amounts of sulfuric acid together, and boiling the mixture for a period of time, the resulting product being obtained in a yield of about 85%.